San Antonio Brewing Co. to open Southtown microbrewery, pub

It’s a warehouse in Southtown

San Antonio Brewing Co. plans to open the doors on a 7,000-square-foot microbrewery and pub in Southtown in October. The San Antonio Zoning Commission will vote whether to rezone the property, formerly a storage warehouse that supplied foam rubber, at 302 E. La Chappelle for alcohol production and food sales on July 5.

San Antonio Brewing Co. plans to open the doors on a...

After scouring for a permanent home for the past four years, San Antonio Brewing Co. plans to open the doors on a 7,000-square-foot microbrewery and pub in Southtown in October.

The San Antonio Zoning Commission will vote July 5 on whether to rezone the property, formerly a storage warehouse that supplied foam rubber, at 302 E. La Chappelle for alcohol production and food sales.

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If the brewery clears the hurdle, it will be on its way to becoming the latest entry in San Antonio’s growing craft-brewing scene. The number of independent breweries and brewpubs here has grown from two in 2009 to 11 in 2016, according to records with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

The seven-barrel brewery will produce and serve San Antonio Brewing Co.’s Texas Wild Flower Pale Ale, among other brews, co-owner and brewer Vera Deckard said. The company hopes to eventually distribute its beer products from the site.

Beer won’t be the only item on the menu. Deckard said the brewery will also serve pretzels, charcuterie, including local cheeses and dry cured sausages, and other “easy, beer-centric foods.”

Nearby residents won’t have to worry about the clang of brewing machinery or booming bass, Deckard said. Beer brewing tends to be a quiet process, she said, and the brewery won’t feature live music.

“We want to be kind to our neighbors,” Deckard said.

San Antonio Brewing Co. has struggled to settle on a permanent spot for its operations. In October 2014, the company scuttled plans for a three-barrel brewery at the defunct Boneshakers location at 306 Austin St., now home to a Big Hops Growler Station. At the time, the company said a last-minute change to lease terms killed the deal.

The company was then slated to open its first brewery in the historic OK Bar building at Hemisfair. Plans for that location fell through in March when San Antonio Brewing decided the building’s historic nature and small space would limit the company, Deckard said.

“It was just determined that that building just would not work out for a brewery and a pub for what we envisioned,” Deckard said.

The company’s inaugural brewery won’t be the only place for drinkers to imbibe in the neighborhood; it’s less than a quarter-mile east of Dorćol Distilling Co. at 1902 South Flores St.

But San Antonio Brewing will be on the upswing of a craft beer boom in Texas. The number of independent craft breweries operating in the Lone Star State rocketed from 59 in 2011 to 189 in 2015, according to the Brewers Association. Texas craft brewers generated an estimated economic impact of $3.77 billion in 2014, the association said.

That mirrors a nationwide trend. The United States was home to 4,225 regional craft breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs in 2015, up from 2,401 in 2012.